As reported by the Catholic News Agency, Pope Francis used his most recent weekly Angelus message delivered in Saint Peter’s Square to warn the faithful against seeking spiritual guidance from anyone other than Jesus.

While the pope has seen fit to be more embracing of many of the progressive trends sweeping the world, presently, clearly an abandonment of the Word is not one of them.

So that’s something.

In his address, the pope took issue with those who “consult horoscopes and fortune tellers,” among other sources of false guidance.

The pope exemplified his message by referring to the story of how Peter attempted to walk on the water of the Sea of Galilee after seeing Jesus do the same. When Peter began to sink, after being commanded by Jesus to walk toward Him, he became frightened and cried out, “Lord, save me,” at which point Jesus grabbed Peter by the hand and asked, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The pope suggested the same sort of troubles can beset Christians today.

“When we do not cling to the Word of the Lord, but consult horoscopes and fortune tellers, we begin to sink,” the pope said.

The Gospel reading, said Pope Francis, illustrates “that faith in the Lord and in his word does not open a path where everything is calm and easy; it does not take us away from the storms of life.”

Instead, said the pontiff, “faith gives us the security of a presence that pushes us to overcome the existential storms, the certainty of a hand that grabs us in order to help us in difficulties, showing the way even when it's dark.”

“Faith, then, is not an escape from life's problems, but it supports on the journey and gives it meaning.”

Pope Francis finished his address by asking the Virgin Mary to assist followers in staying “firm in the faith in order to resist the storms of life, to stay on the boat of the Church, eschewing the temptation to go on amusing, yet insecure boats of ideologies, fashions and slogans.”

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large